MEETINGS & FORUMS PUBLICATION—March, 2012 45 pages

Abstract

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The photonics/optoelectronics industry has undergone significant changes over the course of the last decade after the collapse of the telecom bubble. While the end-user demand for bandwidth continues unabated, the gross margins for the photonics industry, especially in the communications sector, continue to pose significant business challenges. To stay competitive, the industry has addressed this challenge by offshoring optoelectronic component and board-level packaging and assembly to locations where the labor cost is lower. The U.S. government has recently announced a string of manufacturing initiatives to facilitate development of advanced manufacturing technologies and to provide impetus to growth of jobs. Recognizing that these new manufacturing initiatives have the potential to translate into significant opportunities for the photonics community, the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA)[1] organized a workshop entitled, “Opportunities & Trends in Optoelectronic Manufacturing,“ on 5 March 2012 in Los Angeles, CA. The workshop was collocated with the 2012 Optical Fiber Communications Conference. The primary goal of this one day industry-centric event was to reflect upon the current state of photonic manufacturing, and delineate key topics of technological relevance that would help foster new advanced manufacturing technologies in photonics that could be funded through government grants and/or through public-private partnerships. Speakers representing all segments of the photonics industry (large, medium, small/private companies), the government, academia, and the financial community spoke at the workshop. The presentations and discussions were primarily focused on the communications sector spanning the gamut of long-haul to personal communications. The technology discussions were specific to the photonic components that power our telecommunications infrastructure

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